[OSM-talk] immutable=yes Fwd: DEC Lands

[Gustav Foseid]

On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 7:54 PM, Russ Nelson <russ at cloudmade.com> wrote:

> *I* see OSM as an API for all possible geodata: everything that
> doesn't move, and a few things that do.  There are arguably many
> things currently in OSM which should not be edited.  For example,
> political boundaries at every level.


Well... Many of the boundaries could very well do with some editing.

I have worked with the Norwegian-Russian and Norwegian-Finnish borders.
First of all, the CIA data are very inaccurate  (150 meters or more in some
cases). Then you have borders that are not static (the Norwegian-Russian
border follows the actual thalweg in some places, and most international
borders are officially surveyed every 25 years or so). Even when you have a
surveyed border and access to the official documents there are inaccuracies
(Norway-Finland is accurate to a few millimeters, but the conversion to
WGS84 for Norway-Russia is maybe as uch as a few meters inaccurate).

And finally you have OSM tagging changing.

Some objects needs a lot more care when editing than others, but that is not
to say that someone with the right knowledge and sources available  should
be unable to edit them.

 - Gustav
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